It's Official! Valli Granted Couturier Status

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Though Giambattista Valli premiered his debut couture collection in July to much fanfare, the Italian-born designer was only a `guest member' on the Haute Couture schedule at the time of his presentation. It usually takes about five years of "guest presentations" for a designer to be granted official couturier status and even then, very few are allowed into the select circle. But yesterday, the Fédération Française de la Couture (or the body of French government that protects high fashion's most sacred art) announced that they've officially bestowed Valli with the lofty title.

Didier Grumbach, the president of the Chambre Syndicale, said, "It was clear from his show that he has caught the attention of a new generation of customers, and he immediately took important orders for his couture. So it's true that the haute couture appellation gives him legitimacy but, objectively speaking, he is already part of the system."

It's Grumbach's first comment, about the "new generation" of customers, that provides a clue as to why Valli was fast tracked to official couturier. Just yesterday Marc Jacobs made headlines for calling couture "archaic" and every year, as the season hits, there's another round of stories asking, "Is couture dead?" Valli breathed some much needed energy into the fading practice this summer and attracted a younger, just as rich clientele to the couture shows. So while yes, the Chambre did Valli a favor, he may have done them one first.